Texas lawmakers hope to give voters final decision on daylight savings time

Texas lawmakers have submitted two bills to the State Senate that would allow Texans to vote to keep or eliminate daylight saving time.

Texas Senator Paul Betancourt, a Republican, filed Senate Bill 2329 and Senate Joint Resolution 86 on March 10.

This illustrative photo shows a clock in front of a smartphone showing the time after Daylight Savings Time in Los Angeles, California on March 15, 2022. (CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images)

The bill states that, if passed, “this state must observe daylight saving time all year round. This subsection applies both to the portion of this state using Central Standard Time as the official standard time and to the portion of this state using Mountain Standard Time as the official standard time.”

DAYSTALL TIME 2023: WHEN DOES IT START AND HOW IT WAS?

If the bill is approved by the Senate, the decision to end DST will be placed in the hands of Texas voters on November 7, 2023.

Related bills were also introduced, sponsored by State House Representative Mike Schofield.

Neither Schofield nor Betancourt could be contacted for comment on Sunday.

Summer time. Clock with spring flowers (iStock)

FOX 26 in Houston reported that Betancourt spoke about the importance and timeliness of the bill.

DAYLIGHT SAVING: THERE MUST BE A LAW

“When you think about sensitive public policy issues, things like property tax exemptions, school funding and pension reform usually come to mind. 100 years,” Betancourt said. “Texans like me want to be at one time, and the federal government is not giving us the opportunity to vote to stay at standard time. SJR 86 gives Texans the opportunity to vote on this issue and settle the dispute once and for all in the Lone Star State.”

In March 2022, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which was introduced by Senator Marco Rubio, D-F. This act would put an end to the practice of setting the clock forward in the spring and back an hour in the fall.

Although the bill passed the Senate, then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D.C., never put it to a vote.

Earlier this month, Rubio reintroduced the Sun Protection Act.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“This ritual of changing time twice a year is stupid,” he said in a press release. “Locking the clock has overwhelming bipartisan and popular support. I hope that at this Congress we will finally be able to do it.”